The DA is working for change in Limpopo 

Note to editors: This is the speech that will be delivered by DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, this evening during a community meeting in Polokwane, Limpopo.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

In our modern lifestyles, we are rarely afforded the opportunity of gathering together as a community in "town hall"-type forums like this. 

It gives me great pleasure to see such a great turn out here this evening. To me it shows that South Africans take democracy seriously. You must consider the options that political parties put to you and make an informed decision about how to use your vote on 7 May 2014.

But make no mistake, we are all here tonight because we share a common concern for the future of our country. 

We want to know:

• is our nation in good hands?
• can we trust our government?
• is our government truly moving South Africa forward?

Open any newspaper on any given day and one will quickly realize that the answer to all of these questions is, sadly, "No".

Every day we read of the most horrific crimes committed in our communities. Of corruption, economic unrest and service delivery protests.

This is not the South Africa we were promised and it is not the South Africa envisioned by our constitution.

Progress under the ANC government has been slow - too slow. Any progress that the ANC does make, is undermined by its own corruption. This delay and corruption affects every aspect of our lives and jeopardises the future of South Africa.

The nationalization debate in South Africa raged on for over two years until the matter was finally dealt with at the ANC's conference in Mangaung in 2012. Meanwhile, South Africa missed out on two commodity super cycles and lost billions in potential investments that would have created thousands of potential jobs.

The provincial ANC government in Limpopo took 10 months to deliver textbooks to the schools in the province in 2012. A year of education lost. 

And after awarding unlawful tenders, inappropriately accessing public funds and running the province into hundreds of millions of rands worth of debt, the national government placed five provincial departments under administration. 

Unlawful tenders? Inappropriate access to public funds? 

These are exactly the same methods that were employed by the ANC to upgrade President Zuma's private home at Nkandla to the tune of R246 million of tax payers' money. 

If one considers that the money spent on President Zuma's Nkandla residence could have paid for 1230 nurses, 2000 RDP houses, or three years of study, accommodation and meals for 1000 university students, then one begins to realize that Zuma's ANC priority is not the development of South Africa. 

No, the ANC is primarily interested in securing their own financial freedom at tax payer's expense. It is happening in the national government, the provincial government and in municipalities across South Africa.

Just as Langa Bodlani and the DA in Limpopo have been fighting corruption in Limpopo, I and my fellow DA member of parliament, James Selfe, will now also be fighting the flagrant abuse of public funds by the President and his inner circle at Nkandla on a special Parliamentary ad hoc committee. This committee was established by the Speaker of Parliament just last week.

The DA will do everything in our power to ensure that those responsible for abusing the people's money will be brought to justice. 

The ANC knows this and it is running scared. 

The ANC is employing every dirty ploy that they can think of in order to delay and derail this committee. 

Not only that, the ANC also wants to discredit the DA's efforts to hold President Zuma and his cabinet accountable. Just this past weekend, while campaigning in Cape Town, President Zuma described our efforts as "swart gevaar" tactics.

Rather than admit that the DA actually represents sound and logical policies that will transform South African society for the better, the ANC continues to spread its lies that the DA is a racist party protecting white privilege. A party that will bring back apartheid. 

When one looks at the DA's policies and the work that the DA has done in government, you realize that this could not be further from the truth.

The DA's approach to the economy is the cornerstone of our plan to create an "Open Opportunity Society for All" in South Africa. This plan is simple - the DA wants to reform our economy in order to give those left out of the economy a chance to participate. 

In short, the DA's economic policy does not try to take one person's piece of the pie and give it to another. Instead, the DA will essentially "bake a bigger pie". Through a variety of measures, a DA government will grow the economy at 8% and create 6 million real jobs by 2025.

Some of these measures include: 

• doubling the budget of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme so that no student is denied further education because they could not afford it;
• creating one million internships to give work experience to young job-seekers;
• supporting entrepreneurs and small business through training and simplified regulation; and
• improving black economic empowerment so that it rewards companies who invest in their workers and create jobs.

Black economic empowerment is one of the primary tools that is needed in order to include South Africans who were previously excluded from participating in our economy. 

Unfortunately though, the ANC's model is a punitive system based on racial quotas and representivity models. This system of BEE has been abused through political connections in order to benefit only an elite few. 

On the other hand, the DA's proposals will see racial quotas abolished in favour of programmes that actively promote black advancement by extending opportunity and providing support exploit new opportunities. 

The DA will transform BEE into an incentivized tool that creates jobs, reduces inequality in our society and allows more South Africans to participate in the economy.

The DA is implementing this approach as far as is possible in the Western Cape. 

The gains that we have achieved there have been very remarkable. Today, Cape Town is the least unequal city in South Africa. 

77% of the Western Cape government's 50 000 senior employees are previously disadvantaged South Africans. 

And in 2012/2013, the DA-run provincial government was able to award 80% of its tenders over R100 000 to empowered business.

By the way, it deserves to be said that the Western Cape government is also the only government in South Africa to have passed a law that prohibits the provincial government from doing business with government employees or their immediate families. This is part of our commitment to fight corruption and ensure an open and transparent government tender system.

Another pivotal pillar in developing South Africa is the issue of land reform. Unfortunately, however, when it comes to land reform, we cannot simply "bake a bigger pie". 

The government is constitutionally obliged to address the land needs of South Africans who were historically excluded from land and property ownership. 

The DA is committed to achieving this constitutional imperative. 

However, the DA views land reform not only as a form of redress but also as an opportunity to invigorate our rural economy. 

The ANC's approach to land reform has not yielded the intended results. The entire process has been riddled with delays and corruption. 

With the money that has been spent on land reform in South Africa, the government could have purchased almost 60% of the farm land in South Africa on a willing buyer - willing seller basis. 

And 90% of the land reform projects have failed. A failed project is one where there is no productive farming happening on the transferred land. The DA believes that such projects fail because the government has not provided these new farmers with the support required to make the farms productive. 

Any farmer here this evening will appreciate just how difficult and risky farming in South Africa can be.

The DA's land reform strategy wants to speed up the process of land reform and ensure that land reform projects are successful. The DA will do this by:

releasing state-owned land for reform purposes;

pledging an additional R10 billion to land reform programmes over the next five years; 

training and supporting new land owners so that these projects will become self-sustaining; and

focusing on successful land reform programmes.

In this regard, the DA government in the Western Cape has had the most successful land reform programmes in South Africa. 

Models such as farm equity schemes, joint ventures, contract farming and co-operatives have shown that land reform need not compromise our food security or rural economies. 

So if we ask the question who is moving South Africa forward? The clear answer is that it is the Democratic Alliance that is moving South Africa forward.

This is the change that the DA wants to bring to Limpopo. 

This is the change that the DA wants to bring to South Africa.

Together we can heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.

Together we can change our country. 

Together we will create jobs. 

To do this - to truly move South Africa forward - I urge you to vote for the Democratic Alliance on 7 May 2014. 

Thank you.

Issued by the DA, April 14 2014

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